Three old hones, and three old questions.

Hi all! I found these hones today at an antique shop. I'm really happy about it, cause I wasn't having any luck at all with Ebay. Not really sure why I bought all three...I'm assuming it's the beginnings of HAD. Anyways, I checked the wiki and didn't see any that were similar enough for me to draw my own conclusions. Ok..3 questions: Is lapping on 600 grit a good idea in order to bring the big one back to flat, and the little red one back to smooth? Would using a Norton lapping stone be a better idea? Is this yellow one made out of real stone? It's got layers, and looks like wood up close. Also, if anybody knows what they are exactly, and has an opinion on them, I'd appreciate your input. There aren't any markings on them that I could find.

Promising haul.... but we probably need better pictures for ID. Either way, it looks have you have some scrubbing to do to try to get some oil out of those stones.

Yeah I've been working on getting the boxed one cleaned up. I got most of the crud out, and it's looking like a mahoganey box. You got any suggestions for the best cleaning solution to use?

If you've got oil impregnated in the stone I hear oven cleaner is the best bet. A member once posted that the 'easy off' with the blue cap is odor free.

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Originally Posted by JimmyHAD

If you've got oil impregnated in the stone I hear oven cleaner is the best bet.
A member once posted that the 'easy off' with the blue cap is odor free.

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+1

Of interest oil on oil stone hones is not a bad thing.
You can clean the stones with anything handy so you
can find out what they are. Oven cleaner is a good solution
as is brake cleaner. If you have clean parts cleaner that
can work. Oil on a DMT can be removed with a solvent.
As always watch out for solvents -- fumes and solvent soaked
rags are a fire hazzard.

It is a hone so a steel Brillo soap pad should be
OK to scourer the surface to inspect the rock.

I would be inclined to just apply the DMT with water
rich in detergent or TSP (paint shops have TSP)
to see what it is under the grime.

The one that looks like wood is likely wood
with emery paper and crocus cloth glued to it.
Solvent might kill the glue more often than not.
Emery paper and crocus cloth are the old school
versions of 3M wet dry paper. Gymnasts
will often have it to polish a high bar (steel).

Crocus cloth is hard to find...
Emery Paper, Emery Cloth, 3M Rolls, Crocus Cloth, Inside Ring Shells, Emery Paper Mandrels, Emery Paper Arbors, Emery Paper Sticks, Santaper Sticks, Santaper Paper, Micro-finishing Film Strips, Micro-finishing Film PSA Discs, Micro-finishing Film Sh

Just some more detailed pics of the one I'm most curious about.

I pull the oil out with EZ Off, 20 minutes , then scrubb with Simple Green.

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Ok..3 questions: Is lapping on 600 grit a good idea in order to bring the big one back to flat, and the little red one back to smooth? Would using a Norton lapping stone be a better idea? Is this yellow one made out of real stone?

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Somehow we got all wrapped up on cleaning the stones, which I wasn't super concerned about. I want to know the best way to make them useable again. Thanks for everyone's tips on cleaning them but I'm more concerned about the questions I posted. Thanks again to all!

Another thing to try is, go to the good-will and buy a cheap pan, fill it 1/2 with water and put in some Dawn dish soap, boil the stone for an hour or so, you'll be surprised how much junk will boil out.

If you don't have a DMT, I suggest using the wet/dry sandpaper. The Norton lapping stones are designed for the synthetic waterstones. Harder natural stones have a tendency to ruin them(speaking from experiance).

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Originally Posted by regularjoe

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Ok..3 questions: Is lapping on 600 grit a good idea in order to bring the big one back to flat, and the little red one back to smooth? Would using a Norton lapping stone be a better idea? Is this yellow one made out of real stone?

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Somehow we got all wrapped up on cleaning the stones, which I wasn't super concerned about. I want to know the best way to make them useable again. Thanks for everyone's tips on cleaning them but I'm more concerned about the questions I posted. Thanks again to all!

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In my humble opinion Joe, you need to clean them as best as you can first; now I'm sure you know this. The reason you got so many cleaning tips.
I use a DMT 325 on most all my stones to bring them back to life.
The yellow has some serious "digs" on the edges; I would go rougher that 600 to smooth it . Depending on it's size I might have it re-cut.

Thanks Theseus! I ended up finding all the info on this forum with the search engine, but it's great to have someone confirm it all. I did use the Norton for the little red one, but I don't think I used it long enough to completely ruin it. I think I probably just created more work for myself. The hones are starting to look alot better though, and within a few weeks I hope to have a good enough handle on using the Nortons to try one out. As far as finding out what they are, I guess it doesn't matter. They are hones, and I'm hoping they'll work for my purposes. God knows I'll never see a Shapton. haha. Thanks again!

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Originally Posted by rodb

Another thing to try is, go to the good-will and buy a cheap pan, fill it 1/2 with water and put in some Dawn dish soap, boil the stone for an hour or so, you'll be surprised how much junk will boil out.

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Speaking of pans...
If you trip on a $5 black iron pan... you can put common sand in
the pan and worry the rock to be flatter. If it is real bad sidewalk
can make a big lap if you find some that is nice and flat.

EDIT:
For many uses flat is not an advantage.
Growing up my favorite pocket knife hone
was the swayback oil stone at Berrys hardware.
The wood base was fixed to the counter and
all the customers would run their pocket knife on
it. Old man Berry would oil it once a week or so.
By all water stone measures this was an ugly
and wrong way to care for a hone yet it would
put a good old edge on any pocket knife with
only a swipe or two. The deep sway back
gave a natural bevel angle to a whittler.

When you discover what the grit is you
will know what to do.

Hindostan hones can have layering like that. Once you've lapped the surface you're ready to go.

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Originally Posted by niftyshaving

Speaking of pans...
If you trip on a $5 black iron pan... you can put common sand in
the pan and worry the rock to be flatter. If it is real bad sidewalk
can make a big lap if you find some that is nice and flat.

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Ok, that's a good idea??

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Originally Posted by Hirlau

In my humble opinion Joe, you need to clean them as best as you can first; now I'm sure you know this. The reason you got so many cleaning tips.
I use a DMT 325 on most all my stones to bring them back to life.
The yellow has some serious "digs" on the edges; I would go rougher that 600 to smooth it . Depending on it's size I might have it re-cut.

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Yeah, it looks like there was only one exception to the "clean it first" approach. Niftyshaving, I was thinking that way too. Why go through all the trouble of removing the oil, just to re-apply it later. Since I had three stones, I've just been running each one through a different routine. The biggest, which I think is an Arkansas,got brake cleanered, got boiled, and will get easy offed today. The little red one got washed with soap and water, Norton lapped, in standing water, then sanded with 220, then 1500 grit. The one I'm claiming/hoping is a hindostan got 220 dry, then 1500 dry. I'll post back with a pic when I'm satisfied with what I've got, and you guys can tell me if they look ready to use. Thanks so much to everyone!!! I'm not sure the standing water approach was a good idea, but it kept the lapping stone from loading, which was really a big issue. Of course, now I know I shouldn't have used it at all, but the damage is done. It's just one more thing I need to lap now. haha Niftyshaving: I'll hold off on lapping the "might be an arkansas", until we figure out just what it is. I'm going to clean it though, so it's easier to ID. If it's a knife stone, then I'll probably leave it alone. I agree that a little contour on a knife sharpening stone seems to make it easier, and work better for that purpose.

I would clean, I've found a few natural stones that probably laid in the bottom of tool boxes for 50 years and the user possibly used old motor oil as a honing fluid!! Repeated Easy-Off and boilings and 80 grit lapping finally got them looking good. Old tool box residue and unknown honing fluid could be acidic and bad for razors, personally I would want to start as close to clean as possible with the stones/hones (even if the stones turns out to be only good on knives).

Ok ok..You've all convinced me. I also realized that by running three different stones through three different treatments, there was potential that I would find three ways to ruin a stone, and no ways to make it useable. Since everyone who posted has more experience than me, and oven cleaner, boiling, and lapping were major suggestions from almost every poster, they will all get the treatment. Thanks everyone! It's tough reminding myself not to try to re-invent the wheel. Thanks for everyone's guidance:)